Change to winter time - although thanks to it we sleep an hour longer once a year, we feel it particularly acutely. Read why this is happening - find out how the change to winter time affects the body and why we change this time twice in 365 days. Also get to know the specific date of the change to winter time!

How does the change to winter time affect the body?

It might seem that switching to winter time, when we put our watches back, gaining an extra hour for sleep, will help deal with stress and seasonal depression, but the changes have the opposite effect. Moving one hour into the daylight saving time shift causes discomfort similar to those experienced by people when changing time zones. Before your body adjusts to a completely different rhythm, you may experience a lack of appetite, excessive sleepiness, stomach problems, confusion, and a malaise. The body needs about a week to switch to another time. The effects of changing the time particularly affect people with a stabilized lifestyle.

1. Changing to winter time promotes depression

This conclusion was reached by scientists from the University of Aarhus in Denmark2 . They studied the cases of as many as 185,000 people diagnosed with depression in the years 1995-2012. It turned out that switching to winter time increases the incidence of this disease by as much as 8-11% in the month following this change, i.e. in November. The researchers also took into account such factors as the deteriorating weather and a shorter daylight hours - according to them, it was the fact of switching to winter time that contributed to depression in the aforementioned percentage of patients.

2. Biological clock dysregulation

Changing the timealso leads to a disturbance of the biological clock, which is set to a specific lifestyle. Changing the clock by an hour is of great importance for the body, often associated with a change in our habits - the time of getting up and eating meals. All this has an impact on the disturbance of homeostasis, which is also responsible for the mental sphere. Modification of the circadian rhythm affects the secretion of circadian hormones - cortisol and melatonin.

3. Less energy to act

Cortisolis responsible for metabolism, inhibition of immune, allergic and inflammatory reactions. It is a natural steroid hormone that has a profound effect on the immune system, it is called the 'stress hormone'. If the biological clock is normalized and bedtime does not change due to the time change, sleep becomes shallower an hour before the scheduled wake up call and cortisol is released. It is he who stimulates us to act in the morning and gives us a boost of energy. If the time change causes the hours of sleep to shift, then coffee will have to stimulate us instead of cortisol in the morning.

4. Constant feeling of not sleeping

Melatoninproduced by the pineal gland is responsible for our biological clock and its proper functioning. It is called the 'hormone of the night' because it prompts the body to sleep when night comes. Melatonin disturbances are caused by a change of time zone or deterioration of the weather - cloudy days, dark mornings. Then the pineal gland begins to produce melatonin in the early afternoon, which results in constant sleepiness. What does a melatonin deficiency result in?

  • Bad sleep, frequent waking up at night, feeling of constant lack of sleep;
  • Dysregulation of metabolism and weight gain;
  • Permanent fatigue and malaise.

5. Irritation and worse concentration

Switching to winter time is often associated with problems with concentration, irritability and mood drops, and even with problems with digestion. Time change is related to the concept of homeostasis, i.e. self-regulation and balance between the body and the external environment. The state of proper homeostasis depends on maintaining proper blood pressure, body temperature and the proportion of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body.

This will be useful to you

In 2022, we change the summer time to winter time on the night of Saturday 24 October to Sunday 25 October. We put the clocks back from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Remember that many electronic devices switch automatically, but on Sunday morning it is worth checking that all watches show the current winter time.

Change to winter time- is it necessary?

Opinions on this subject are divided - contrary to what you might think, switching to winter time has no "justification" in astronomy, nor does it result from the necessity to adapt to changes taking place in nature. We change to winter time because we made it up ourselves.

It started as early as the 18th century with the American politician Benjamin Franklin, who wantedin winter, people woke up earlier, but also went to bed earlier. His idea was not understood, however, and we had to wait a long time for similar changes. The first country to implement a time change was Germany in 1916. In Poland, periodic changes of time were introduced between World War I and II - then during the Nazi occupation, and after the war in 1946-1949, 1957-1964. Finally, in 1977, the change to winter and summer time was introduced in Poland, but with some changes in 1995 - until then we changed the time to winter time on the last Sunday of September, now the changes are introduced on the last Sunday of October.

The change to winter time is taking place in 70 countries around the world - mainly in Europe (except Iceland), but also in the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand.

Why is there a change to winter time?

So if the change to winter time is not natural, why is it carried out at all? One of its main motives was to save energy. Scientific research conducted over many years has shown, however, that the change of time does not allow this at all, and in many cases causes greater wear and tear. Professor Hendrik Wolff from the University of Washington, conducting research on energy saving after switching to winter time, said that in fact, lower energy consumption is observed in the evening, but it increases significantly during dark mornings1 . The same applies to summer time. The long day forces you to return home earlier, which is still very hot, which requires the use of fans and air conditioners. Moreover, observations made in Australia after the introduction of time changes in various parts of Australia in the first decade of the 21st century showed that energy consumption even became slightly higher.

Changing the time to winter is also to protect against … accidents - human activity is lower when there is no light outside, so the risk of various types of accidents (especially road accidents) is lower.

Worth knowing

How to minimize the effects of changing to winter time?

You can try to cheat the time shift a little by letting the body clock work normally. If your lifestyle is regulated, try tograduallychange your activity times. Instead of sleeping an hour longer, get up "the old way", that is, an hour earlier according to the new time, and eat, for example, longer breakfast or do shopping. If you have flexible working hours, come to and leave the office at the same time as before the clocks are changed.The next day, come to work a little later, the next day later, and so on, until your body clock is reset, which should take about a week. In the evening, do not sit in front of the TV, because it is only 22 (in fact 23) and you think that you will have time to sleep. Go to bed an hour earlier.

Sources:

1. Access to the study on the website: http://ftp.iza.org/dp6787.pdf

2. Access to information about the study at: http://www.newswise.com/articles/the-transition-from-daylight-saving-time-to-standard-time-leads-to-depressions

Category:

Psychology